CornCam 2001: Iowa Farmer Today and Garst Seed Company Again Team Up for Unique Look at Agriculture

CornCam 2001: Iowa Farmer Today and Garst Seed Company Again Team Up for
Unique Look at Agriculture
SLATER, IOWA -(AgPRonline)– May 1, 2001 – Once again, visitors from around
the world will be able to log onto their Internet browsers, sit back and
witness one of nature’s wonders: a crop of corn growing in eastern Iowa.
“To say that last year’s Iowa Farmer Today “CornCam” sponsored by Garst
Seed Company was a success would be a HUGE understatement,” says Bob Davis,
Iowa Farmer Today’s Internet Manager. “Quite simply, we were amazed at the
number of people from all around the world who logged onto the site to watch
an Iowa corn field.”
By the end of the corn growing season, more than 2.5 million Internet
“visitors” had stopped by the CornCam site, with more than 35,000
individuals logging on to watch the corn being harvested last October.
However, just like Iowa corn farmers, IFT and Garst Seed Company are
working hard toward making this year’s information and entertainment “crop”,
the CornCam web site, even better than last year’s.
A new feature to the CornCam site this year, visitors will be able to log
on and actually watch Jim and Sharon plant the corn crop. Planting day for
the CornCam field is scheduled for Saturday, May 5th (weather permitting).
To get to the 2001 CornCam page, Internet surfers can simply key in
www.corncam.com, or get to the page from both the Iowa Farmer Today web site
(www.IowaFarmer.com) or the Garst web site (www.garstseed.com).
“When you are surrounded by corn fields and see them every day, you tend to
take their simple beauty and peacefulness for granted,” says Jeff Lacina,
Public Relations Manager for Garst Seed Company. “Again this year, we hope
people from all around the US and the world will stop by the site and watch
that Garst corn grow during an Iowa growing season.”
This year’s CornCam will once again be located on Jim and Sharon Greif’s
farm in eastern Iowa, not far from the small town of Prairieburg, Iowa. For
their role as “hosts” of the world’s only cornfield being “watched” via a
web-connected camera, Jim and Sharon enjoyed the experience and the new
“friends” they’ve made.
“Because of the CornCam, we have developed some truly unique email
friendships with people from around the United States and the world,” notes
Jim Greif. “It’s very humbling to realize the people will take time out of
their busy days to write to Sharon and me, asking us about our corn, our
family and what it’s like being an Iowa farmer.”
Greif also notes that during the course of the 2000 growing season, they
greeted visitors from more than 20 states and several foreign countries who
wanted to stop by the field “just to see the corn growing in person.”
Other highlights from the 2000 CornCam project included;
· May 18th “go-live” the first day the camera was turned on and linked live
to the Iowa Farmer Today web site.
· June 30th – CornCam page records it’s 1 millionth “page view”.
· July 28 – Prairieburg Volunteer Fire Department fund-raiser – hayrack
rides to the CornCam field raised more than $3,000.00 toward the fund to
build a new fire station.
· September 11- Garst field day attended by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture,
Patty Judge
· September 11 – A rare but severe late season hail storm pummels the
CornCam field, as well as guests attending the Garst field day!
· October 16 – More than 35,000 individuals logged on to witness harvest,
with images being updated every 5 minutes. Jim Greif conducts live,
in-combine radio interviews with several radio stations across Iowa and the
midwest.
“Other than having the world watch my cornfield grow, it was a pretty normal
corn growing year,” jokes Greif.
Once again, the CornCam field will feature a range of Garst corn hybrids and
serve as a “variety demonstration” plot for the Greif’s and their
Prairieview Ag Service business.
The 2001 CornCam page will also feature a wide range of links to other corn
and agriculture-specific web sites, as well as weekly updates on the
progress of the crop written by Jim and Sharon. Other new features to the
CornCam page will be added during the course of the growing season, but
visitors can expect to learn a lot more about corn, how it is grown and how
it is used after it’s been harvested.
As it was in 2000, this year’s CornCam project is a joint effort
between IFT, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Garst, headquartered in Slater,
Iowa.
Founded in 1984, Iowa Farmer Today is a weekly farm publication with
a circulation of more than 72,000. With editorial offices in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa, and field editors across the state, Iowa Farmer Today Publications is
a division of Gazette Communications Inc. Iowa Farmer Today Online can be
found at www.IowaFarmer.com.
The entrepreneurial Roswell Garst founded what is now Garst Seed Company in
1930 in Coon Rapids, Iowa Rapids. Today, with corporate and research
headquarters in Slater, Iowa, Garst Seed Company is the largest member of
the Advanta group of companies and is a key component of an expansive
worldwide Advanta seed technology network that includes research,
development and breeding facilities in 13 U.S. states and in 12 countries
around the globe.
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